April 29, 2010

The administration of President Barack Obama has launched what officials termed a psychological warfare campaign meant to topple Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sources in the administration and Congress asserted that the White House and State Department have sought to destabilize Netanyahu's government by forcing him to agree to an indefinite freeze on Jewish construction in the West Bank and most of Jerusalem as well as the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2012. They said the campaign sought to replace Netanyahu with opposition leader and former foreign minister Tsipi Livni.

"Bibi is extremely vulnerable to pressure," a source familiar with the White House effort said. "We know this from his first term in office and believe he will collapse this time as well."

The sources said the administration's strategy aimed to de-legitimize Netanyahu in his government and right-wing constituency. They said Obama and his aides have sought to portray Netanyahu as a weak and unstable politician who will destroy relations with Washington as Israel seeks U.S. support for a military option against Iran.

"There seems to be a general belief in the circle around the president that the democratically-elected government in Israel is drunk at the wheel," Steven Rosen, a veteran pro-Israeli lobbyist now with the Middle East Forum, said. "They clearly will use pressure tactics to bring Israel around."

In April 2010, former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk began a series of attacks on Netanyahu in the Israeli media. Indyk, a former assistant secretary of state under then-President Bill Clinton, has called for the toppling of Netanyahu while his right-wing partners accept a more pliant prime minister.

"Indyk was sent by Obama and encouraged by his American Jewish supporters, particularly [former Rep.] Robert Wexler, to do this," the source said.

In January 2010, Wexler resigned from Congress to become head of the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. The center was founded by Obama supporter Daniel Abraham and a delegation met Netanyahu in February.

The sources said the administration's campaign has included invitations to Defense Minister Ehud Barak to the White House, where he met with Obama on April 26. Barak has been regarded as the most pro-U.S. minister in Netanyahu's Cabinet and has been lobbying ministers to accept Obama's proposals.

"It's not going to be easy to turn this thing around," Rosen told a briefing on April 21. "Some of my friends in Jerusalem believe this crisis will go on for an extended period."

The anti-Netanyahu fervor has alarmed pro-Israeli members in Congress, particularly from the Democratic Party. Several of the Democrats have reported a sharp drop in funds by Jewish donors for congressional elections in November.

"This [campaign against Netanyahu] is counterproductive and has to stop," Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat who has threatened to issue a condemnation of the White House, said.

Some in the pro-Israeli community detect an anti-Semitic tinge to the White House campaign, despite the involvement of Jewish aides. On April 21, National Security Advisor James Jones stunned an audience at the pro-Israel Washington Institute when he told a joke of a Jewish merchant who tricked a thirsty Taliban fighter into buying a tie.

"I wish that I had not made this off the cuff joke at the top of my remarks," Jones later said. "I apologize to anyone who was offended by it. It also distracted from the larger message I carried that day: That the United States' commitment to Israel's security is sacrosanct."

Former State Department official Aaron Miller said Obama has surrounded himself with aides who blame Netanyahu for the suspension of the Arab-Israeli peace process. Miller said many of the aides had encountered Netanyahu during his first tenure as prime minister from 1996 to 1999.

"They had seen the Benjamin Netanyahu movie before and were determined not to let their chance at Middle East peace end the same way," Miller said in the magazine Foreign Policy. "Confronted with Netanyahu again, Obama and his team needed no encouragement to talk tough on the growing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, an issue that experts inside and outside government were clamoring for Obama to raise as the first step in his renewed push for peace. Fresh from his victory on health care, he's [Obama] king of the world again and in no mood to let the king of Israel frustrate his plans."

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Wild Thing's comment.........

A little something about BiBi:

Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv to Zila and professor Benzion Netanyahu, the middle child of three children. He was initially raised and educated in Jerusalem. Between 1956 and 1958, and again in 1963-67, his family lived in the United States in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he attended and graduated from the Cheltenham High School and was active in a debate club.

Obama wants someone he can control - someone as leader of Israel who will stand by and do nothing as Barack Obama gives all of the promised land to the Muslims.

Bibi refuses to be a puppet- so Obama is trying to get rid of him and install someone who will not utter a peep while the Muslims steal Jewish land and drive the Jews into the sea.

Posted by Wild Thing at April 29, 2010 06:50 AM

Comments

obama is anti-Israel as well as anti-America and anti-West. He has managed to find some anti-Israel Jews for his administration. So they all attak Netanyahu and try to destroy his administration. I hope Bibi can weather this vicious attempt to oust him.

obama certainly doesn't hide his anti-Israel view. He invites muslims to an America and muslim economic summit, but has nothing similar for Israel. I believe obama is a muslim at heart if not in practice.

Posted by: TomR at April 29, 2010 09:16 AM

Obama won't be happy until he has the Jews back in concentration camps.

Posted by: BobF at April 29, 2010 09:26 AM

First they have to get rid of Bibi. Getting rid of Netanyahu will not be easy for these Cluster-F*ckers. Already the Jewish People don't trust Obama and will support Netanyahu. The People who live over there especially will be very leary of anything obama does from now on.

Then try to install the leader they want. They are talking about Tsipi Livni, she's not all that leftist anyway and won't be pushed around by the likes of obama. She would push back hard if push came to shove. Any Jewish leader will only allow obama to push them so far, then they too will resist.

Also there were demonstrations in New York in support of Netanyahu the more this gets around that obama is trying to undermine the Israeli Government the more angry the Jewish supporters will become then obama will have two fronts to deal with. Schumer is only one of the Jews in the Senate who will become further outraged as this goes on.

Barry's playing with fire and doesn't know what hes' doing and surely he will get burnt. He's doing this for the support of the Arabs here but mostly for the ones in the kingdom of arabia.

The more people who stand up to this pettit tyrant the quicker he will back down. Sic semper tyranis.

Posted by: Mark at April 29, 2010 10:38 AM

Also, But its ok if Iran builds a Nuclear Bomb. Is there a parallel universe at work here.

Posted by: Mark at April 29, 2010 02:48 PM

6 letters: M O S S A D

Posted by: Eddie (Enemy of the State) at April 29, 2010 05:32 PM

Great article. I knew as much and was glad to see someone express it in terms one can understand. Obama and gang hate Israel and especially Bibi. I'm cross posting this article tomorrow at TOTUS with a link back. Again thanks for the story!